Page 116 of Brambles and Bellflowers
“But Gregory needed my help, and I needed his, so he asked me for a favor regarding his task,” she continued. “I agreed—and I’ve mostly upheld my end of the bargain—but I ran away before I could return it. However, it doesn’t matter now, does it?”
So—Dr. Stephens was the one I had to question. That was unfortunate. He was not very friendly and had, hopefully, only accidentally, almost killed me. I wasn’t in the mood to have a one-on-one with him again.
Maybe the boys would tell me.
“Does Miles know?” I wondered. Besides Damen, Miles was the worst at keeping secrets. And he was so easy to fluster. Everyone had a weakness.
“No!” Kathleen’s eyes widened, and she dropped her hand back to her lap. “Gregory said that your quintet wasn’t supposed to know.I’mnot even supposed to know.”
Goshdarn it. I frowned as my one last hope disappeared.
I had no choice but to talk to Dr. Stephens.
“Don’t you work for Miles?” I glanced back toward the house. She was, after all,hissubject. “Isn’t helping me a conflict of interest?”
She bit her bottom lip but didn’t answer my question. “I have a gift for youandsomething I need you to do.”
“What—” I started but paused as she pressed a small, white-pink stone in my hands.
“This is a hag stone,” she said. “It possesses properties that will help you later in your journey, and will allow you to connect with someone on other planes. I’ve no use for it anymore.”
I traced my finger around the heart-shaped hole in the middle of the stone, the chipped rose polish of my nails bringing out the scattered specks of color.
“What properties?” I asked, but she’d pressed Miles’s pants into my hands instead.
“Do you know how to sew?” she asked.
My face burned. I was humiliated at my oversight. I should have fixed Miles’s clothing first thing. Of course, a self-sufficient woman like Kathleen would have a sewing kit to use. I should have asked last night.
I was already failing at this whole relationship-but-not-a-relationship thing.
“Yes…” I took the pants. “I’ll fix them. Sorry.”
“Don’t apologize.” She closed her hands over mine and leaned forward until her face was in my vision. “I want you to try something.”
“What is it?”
“When you work on this, I want you to focus on Miles—and what you want for him.”
I turned my attention back to her hands. My heart beat loudly in my ears, and—if I wasn’t entirely crazy—it was almost as if the ground at my feet began to hum. “W-what do you mean?”
“What you think he needs,” she said. The sunlight seemed to dim, and the air grew heavy. “What you expect.”
“I don’t expect anything,” I whispered.
“I don’t believe you,” she answered, a mysterious smile touching her weathered face.
I wrinkled my nose, and her grin grew wider as her eyes twinkled. “There it is.”
“What?” My voice was still low. There was no particular reason why—but this moment still felt profound.
“I can see some of my son’s mannerisms in you,” she said. “I don’t know what happened to make you angry, but you must have been close once.”
“Not really…” I looked away first, breaking the spell with my stilted response. “I want nothing to do with them.”
She made a sound of understanding, and her expression softened.
“The three of you will have to settle this. I don’t need to talk to them to know they consider you theirs. It was obvious from the moment I met you. You can’t run from destiny forever.”
